The top spot was claimed, but there are two spots still up for grabs. With only one week left to play, the teams in the running must do their best in Rivalry Week. But before we get to that, let us take a look at how teams can make the playoffs.
How to Make the Playoffs
The top three teams from each conference will automatically earn a playoff spot. After that, there will be a league-wide vote on who the last four teams should be. If there is a tie within the top three teams, the following tiebreakers will be used (in order) to break the tie.
| Order | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Conference Record |
| 2 | Head-to-Head |
| 3 | Record vs common conference opponents |
| 4 | Point differential vs common conference opponents |
| 5 | Record vs common overall opponents |
| 6 | Point differential vs common overall opponents |
| 7 | Overall record |
| 8 | Overall point differential |
Big XII Standings
| Team | Overall Record | Conference Record |
| Texas | 5-2 | 4-0 |
| West Virginia | 5-2 | 3-1 |
| Cincinnati | 4-3 | 2-2 |
| Baylor | 3-4 | 2-2 |
| Texas A&M | 2-5 | 1-3 |
| Colorado | 2-5 | 0-4 |
Texas has already won the Big XII Title for the second straight season. No matter what happens this week against Texas A&M, they will be a top 4 seed going into the playoffs.
West Virginia is setting in a good position, but there is still work to do. With a win over Baylor this week the Mountaineers will punch their ticket and lock up second place in the conference. However, a loss could put them in a two (or three) way tie. In that scenario, the tiebreaker would be point differential within the conference (more on that later).
Cincinnati can get in with a win or a loss, depending on the scenario. If Baylor loses this week to WVU, then Cincinnati is in the playoffs, no matter what. If Baylor wins and Cincinnati loses, then Cincy finishes in 4th place. If Cincinnati wins and Baylor wins, then we head to the point differential tiebreaker.
Baylor needs to get a win this week to get an automatic bid. And even then, it might not be enough. If Cincinnati loses and the Bears win, they are in. However, if both teams win we go to a point differential tiebreaker. Here is where these three teams stand in point differential.
| Team | Point Differential in Conference Games |
| West Virginia | +13 |
| Cincinnati | +3 |
| Baylor | -19 |
As you can see, the point differentials are still close between these three teams. If Baylor beats West Virginia by 17 or more, they would own that tiebreaker over them. They need to win by 22 more than Cincinnati does in order to pass them.
Texas A&M and Colorado have both been mathematically eliminated from automatic bid contention. However, the vote-in is still a possibility. A win over Texas or Cincinnati would be sure to turn some heads.
Good luck to the six teams representing the Big XII this weekend.
